The Protection Program

TPP : Chapter II

Strawberry gum. Wasn't much of anything but for someone who had been locked up for the past year and 4 months it was a blessing in disguise. She chewed slowly as she looked down at all the writing on her arm, permanent ink wasn't necessarily permanent so she had to either remember it all or rewrite it everyday. Fortunately for her sake once she got off this bus she would no longer have to write it. She was the last one on the bus, the only other person was obviously the bus driver but other then that she was alone, like always. She liked being alone, it was something she had become so used to that it wasn't any longer an issue, it was more of a reward. After her sentence in prison was up her sentence in Detention Correctional boot camp began, she would have much rather stayed in prison because the boot camp required communicating with people, she had to talk to a therapist twice a week and she had to become a better person. For three months that was her life, now she was being placed into a home like a stray dog, they would have to watch her 24/7, take care of her, protect her. Basically give her life and she didn't want or need that. She was very well independent, had been ever since birth and now all of the sudden she had to depend on other people. It was that or she would end up in prison again.

"Mam, this is your stop."

She looked up and took in a deep breath. This was it, she stepped from the bus and into her new life which god only knows what that would be like. She flung her back pack over her shoulder and walked up the narrow aisle, she put a hand up as if to say thank you before climbing off the bus. She blew one more bubble before taking it out and tossing it on to the thin strip of grass that was near the side walk. The bus station was empty, it was almost midnight so nobody was there, she spotted a public telephone and got a little bit excited, smiling for the first time since she left prison. She rushed over to it and picked it up placing the phone to her ear

"Insert 50 cents to make a call, then press pound."

She clenched her jaw in a bit of anger but took a deep breath so she wouldn't get to mad. Anger led to bad things and bad things led right back to prison, which at the moment didn't sound to bad. She hung the phone back up on the holding rack, slamming it harder then intended

"someone seems angry."

She quickly turned to the voice to see him standing there. He was tall, built with muscle and had a thick beard to match his thick eyebrows, his face was defined as if chiseled by god himself. His smooth skin was the color of an Irish cream latte and he was very attractive. She knew exactly who he was, not only because they told her she would be placed into a home with him but because before her days of being in and out of county jails and prisons she watched Degrassi. He became a rapper and she listened to his music, everyone knew him and she was just another one of those everyone's.

"I'm Aubrey. But you probably already knew that."

She stared at him wordlessly, facial expression blank as the daytime sky. His playful smile faded as his lips went from happy to serious, he cleared his throat and shoved his hands into the pockets of his grey sweatpants. Even in sweatpants he looked like a million bucks compared to her but nobody could really say anything, when someone comes from prison they literally have nothing, and one point of this program is for the person taking them in to take care of them greatly.

"Are you Nina?"

She nodded her head slowly wishing she still had her strawberry gum. The flavor lingered in her mouth only making her crave more of it, not only would it give her a great nostalgia of the time she wasn't a criminal but it would give her something to do. She wasn't big on talking while this guy clearly was trying to make conversation

His condo was nice, huge. She didn't really understand how it was a condo and not considered a house but to each his own i guess. Her room was the best part though, she would spend most of her time there so she was glad it was something she held interest in, not only the room but the closet as well. The closet alone was the same size, if not larger, as her cell in prison not to mention the fact that it was filled with clothes and shoes. He said that some of the clothes were some of his sisters old stuff since they were about the same size, according to her files, and other stuff was brand new with tags on them from stores she had never heard of. All of them were soft to the touch, she wished she could knit them all together and snuggle up with them but there was no point when the comforter on the bed was just as soft. She take in a deep breath as she sink down into the memory foam bed, she could get used to this. Memory foam instead of a cot, designer clothes instead of a dirty orange jumpsuit, anything her heart desired instead of nothing at all. But that was the thing, she could get used to this, but she wants and she couldn't because in three months once The Protection Program contract was up she was out of here..